PHOTOS: The Gordon Parks Foundation Gala 2025

Anna Wintour. Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for Gordon Parks Foundation

Earlier this week, the Gordon Parks Foundation Annual Gala returned to Cipriani 42nd Street to celebrate the indelible legacy of Gordon Parks, the trailblazing photographer whose lens captured the soul of the Black American experience. This year’s gala gathered a Who’s Who of photography, fashion, art and activism and honored four luminaries whose careers reflect Parks’ ethos of beauty, truth and resistance: legendary model and activist Bethann Hardison, artist Rashid Johnson, First Lady of fashion Anna Wintour and civil rights icon Ambassador Andrew Young. One of the night’s most poignant moments came when Colman Domingo, Emmy winner and perennial awards season presence, presented Wintour with her award in what felt like a full-circle tribute to Parks’ own start at Vogue in 1944.

Pastor Ernest Ledbetter, JR. and Ernest Ledbetter III, whose family Parks famously documented in 1953 for a Life magazine feature on Chicago’s Black church life, kicked off the gala with an invocation. But if the room felt heavy with legacy, it was also buzzing with urgency. As Peter W. Kunhardt, Jr., executive director of the foundation, remarked: “Tonight may be the most critical gala we’ve ever held. Because now, we are facing some of the strongest forces we’ve ever faced, determined to prevent progress, to erase history and to silence the voices that challenge injustice. Gordon gave us clear instructions: ‘Take what I’ve built—and push it forward. Take what I’ve started—and carry it into the future.’ That future is NOW.”

Kunhardt also acknowledged Mikki Ferrill and LeRoy Henderson, two vital artists from Parks’ orbit and now part of the Gordon Parks Foundation’s inaugural Legacy Acquisition Fund, an initiative that will support mid- and late-career artists whose work resonates with the photographer’s mission.

Aurora James and Tyson Beckford. Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for Gordon Parks Foundation

Spotted rubbing shoulders with art stars like Hank Willis Thomas, Mickalene Thomas, Bisa Butler, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Kennedy Yanko, Sheree Hovsepian and Foundation Art Fellows Derek Fordjour and Scheherazade Tillet were designer Tory Burch, photographer Annie Leibovitz, Super Bowler Malcolm Jenkins, prima ballerina Misty Copeland, TV personality Gayle King and singer-songwriter Michael Stipe. Aurora James and Tyson Beckford were among the evening’s presenters and mingled with the likes of Ari Melber, Leslie Odom, Jr., Deborah Roberts, Jay Ellis, Dapper Dan, Prabal Gurung, Breanna Stewart, Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe and curators Jasmine Wahi and Legacy Russell.

“Our annual gala is our homecoming,” Kunhardt told Observer after the fact, “and it’s so important because every dollar raised supports the GPF fellows. We are so lucky that the individuals in the room with us every year are pillars in their fields and have the platforms to make real change possible. Because of our supporters, more than 175 Gordon Parks Foundation Scholarships have been awarded to young artists who are breaking barriers, telling urgent stories, and forging new paths forward. At the heart of the Foundation’s mission are Gordon’s own words. He described his work as ‘Our common search for a better life and a better world.’ His camera was his weapon of choice to fight racism and poverty, and he knew that art is more potent than violence because it can open our eyes. It also gives me such joy to see so many of our past Gordon Parks fellows join us every year to see the next ushered in—they have really become family—and are doing everything they can to make an impact, especially now, when it feels more important than ever.”

Kimberly Pirtle. Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for Gordon Parks Foundation

In between speeches, Andra Day delivered a heart-wrenching rendition of “God Bless The Child” and Dave Guy of The Roots kept spirits buoyant with “Ruby’s Rubies.” Sotheby’s powerhouse Kimberly Pirtle took the lectern midway through the evening to help raise a record $3 million via a high-octane live auction of Parks’ photographs. Capping off what was an evening of substance, style and serious cultural gravitas, Day stepped back into the limelight to perform her certified quadruple platinum smash “Rise Up” in what was, all would no doubt agree, the perfect end to a perfect party.